F1 China 2013: 'I'm just ecstatic', says pole winner Hamilton

Fourth place on the grid alongside Ferrari's Fernando Alonso was actually a particularly good result for Rosberg considering that his preparations had been compromised by a problem earlier in the day.

"P4 is a decent grid position for me," he agreed. "I wasn't able to do my qualifying simulation this morning due to the hydraulic problem which was a bit unfortunate.

"I needed to catch up through the qualifying sessions and find my way," he continued. "I took some settings from Lewis for the initial set-up which worked out well."

Both drivers were looking forward to race day, with Hamilton keen to cement a much better start to 2013 than expected with his first win for the team, and Rosberg keen to reprise his victory of 12 months ago.

"We've worked a lot on the race performance this weekend so I hope we can gain some places tomorrow," said Rosberg. "It's going to be an interesting race with some of the guys starting on the medium tyres so let's see what happens."

"These tyres are very tricky this weekend," Hamilton contributed. "The two closest guys [on the grid] will be the biggest challenge. The Ferrari is massively quick on the first lap and so is Kimi - and Kimi is particularly very strong with looking after the option tyres so it's going to be very hard to keep them behind.

"I think we are in a good position [once we change to prime tyres] but it's just a matter of how much ground we can maintain or try not to lose in the first stint," he added.

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